Brawls and GAA have an unhealthy relationship with each other. Every few years, an unsavoury melee takes place and the GAA world is left in shock.
Throughout history, there have been a number of these kinds of incidents. And in the past, the ramifications following the brawls have ranged from minimal to very severe. Months long bans have been handed out, and teams have suffered massively as a result.
With the Armagh and Galway melee fresh in our minds, let's take a look back now at some of the most controversial brawls in GAA history.
READ MORE:Armagh star could be in hot water for actions in brawl against Galway
Armagh-Galway, 2022 All Ireland SFC quarter-final
Let's start with the elephant in the room. The most recent melee on this list happened just a few days ago.
Armagh and Galway played out the game of the championship this year and arguably, it was the best game in the past five years or so. It was nip and tuck for 78 minutes, and when Riain O'Neil slotted a 50 metre free with the last kick of the game, that should have cemented this games famous legacy.
Instead, it's a game that will live in infamy.
Tempers flared at the end of full time with both sides brawling outside the tunnel as the sides headed down the tunnel ahead of extra-time. Ugly scenes followed, with even the Taoiseach having his say on the incident.
Who knows what punishments will be handed out in the coming days. What we do know for sure is whether for the classic game, the infamous brawl or the historic penalty shootout, this game is one that will live long in the memory.
Dublin-Galway, 1983 All-Ireland SFC final
Four players, Dublin’s Brian Mullins, Ray Hazley and Ciaran Duff along with Tomas Tierney of Galway, were sent off in one of the most controversial games in GAA history.
Duff received the harshest punishment of all with a 12-month ban though it was later reduced on appeal, while Mullins got five months and Hazley a month with Dubs boss Kevin Heffernan suspended for three months.
Dublin struggled in the subsequent League, picking up only one win and suffering relegation to Division Two.
Two Galway players, Tierney and Peter Lee, were hit with one-month bans but they topped Division Two and reached the League final, losing to Kerry.
Meath-Mayo, 1996 All-Ireland SFC final replay
An all-out brawl, which puts the recent Tyrone-Armagh skirmish in the ha’penny place, broke out early in the 1996 All-Ireland final replay with referee Pat McEnaney settling on Mayo’s Liam McHale and Colm Coyle of Meath as the main culprits, with both sent off.
It could have been anybody though and that was reflected in the subsequent disciplinary enquiry that was carried out with eight Meath players and seven from Mayo suffering bans totalling 38 months.
A weakened Meath finished sixth in Division One, as did Mayo in Division Two.
Tyrone-Dublin, 2006 National Football League
“If Paddy Russell had been God Almighty he couldn’t have refereed that game today,” commented Mickey Harte after the infamous ‘Battle of Omagh’, a game which Russell considered abandoning amid the bedlam that had ensued with on-field skirmishes nearly spilling into the stand.
Dublin’s Alan Brogan and Denis Bastick were sent off along with Tyrone pair Colin Holmes and Stephen O’Neill, while six players received eight-week bans and another a four-week suspension.
There was acute embarrassment for the GAA, however, as all seven had their suspensions quashed on a technicality. The farce proved to be a watershed in how the GAA administered justice, with the disciplinary process tightened considerably afterwards.
Cork-Clare, 2007 Munster SHC quarter-final
Players from both sides clashed as they emerged from the Semple Stadium tunnel at the same time. The fact that children were forming a guard of honour for them made it even more unsightly.
Eight four-week suspensions were proposed following ‘Semplegate’, though Cork’s John Gardiner got a reprieve from the CHC.
Cork were severely weakened without Sean Og O hAilpin, Diarmuid O’Sullivan and Donal Og Cusack, losing to Waterford in the subsequent Munster semi-final, though Clare survived a qualifier against Antrim without Colin Lynch, Alan Markham, Andrew Quinn and Barry Nugent.
Dublin-Meath, 2008 National Football League
Five red cards were flashed at Parnell Park during an unseemly Division Two tie between the great Leinster rivals as Bernard Brogan, Paddy Andrews, Ciaran Whelan (all Dublin), Shane McAnarney and Niall McKeigue (both Meath) were given their marching orders.
It didn’t stop there, however, as a whopping 16 players were proposed for suspensions of up to two months while both county boards were hit with hefty fines.
Understrength Dublin subsequently lost the Division Two final to Westmeath and some missed their Championship opener against Louth which they won comfortably; Meath suffered without key men against Wexford, however, slipping to a dramatic one-point loss in the Leinster quarter-final.
Armagh-Cavan, 2014 Ulster SFC quarter-final
Hostilities spilled over before the ball was even thrown in as a fracas broke out during the pre-match parade.
Referee Marty Duffy couldn’t single anyone out at the time but five players, Cavan’s Martin Dunne and Fergal Flanagan and Armagh trio Brendan Donaghy, Kieran Toner and Andy Mallon, were proposed for one-match bans.
The suspensions stuck and though Armagh drew with Monaghan in the semi-final, they lost the replay. Cavan survived against Westmeath in the qualifiers.
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